Let's Talk March Keeping Active
Published on 28 March 2025 05:05 PM
The March 2025 Let's Talk was all about the benefits of keeping active and how it can play an important role in helping to reduce the risk of physical health conditions, such as a stroke or dementia and also in reducing joint pain.
Find out details of free and affordable ways to keep active that were shared at the event and how you can take up their service offers - from speakers at Islington Council and the free to access Nuffield Health Joint Pain Programme.
Also listed is a drop-in Keep Active Day information event coming up on Wednesday 7th May at Central Library when you can talk to local activity providers including Arsenal in the Community, Better Leisure and Healthy Generations, all in one space!
❤️ Impact on health: attendees shared their experiences
Islington residents, who attended Let's Talk, shared details of their personal experiences of exercise - Martin on the mental and physical benefits of cold water swimming in Highgate ponds, providing respite from caring and Pauline on how swimmng helped with oseoarthritis.
Another attendee spoke enthusiastically about their Better Leisure gym membership and how that has really helped following a stroke.
The benefits of swimming are captured in the following videos.
❤️ Nuffield Joint Pain Programme
We started with a presentation from Joelle and Michael from Nuffield Health, who introduced their free to access 6 month Joint Pain programme.
The programme is designed to help you self-manage chronic joint pain and to lead a more independent life. It begins with 12 weeks of lifestyle advice and exercise sessions led by a Rehabilitation Specialist.
They had a fantastic response from attendees on the day wanting to sign up for the programme. You can also find out more and sign-up for the programme on their website.
See the Joint Pain Programme slides
See the Nuffield Health website.
❤️ Looking into the benefits of exercise
John Thorne, from the Parks,Sports and Physical Activity Team in Islington Council provided a valuable insight into why exercise is important and its many benefits.
See the Benefits of Exercise presentation slides
A fantastic resource to find exercise opportunities near you, is the Islington Activities Finder. It's really comprehensive and you can browse to see what types of activities are available and search to find what's closest to where you live in Islington and by time of day.
See the Islington Activities Finder.
❤️ Activities taking place in local Islington parks
Sally Oldfield, from the Parks,Sports and Physical Activity Team in Islington Council shared details of some of the many opportunities to meet others and keep active, in Islington's local parks.
See the Islington parks presentation slides
❤️ 'Keep Active Day' Information Event
Wednesday 7 May, 11am - 1pm
Islington Central Library, 2 Fieldway Crescent, London N5 1PF
Age UK are launching a national media campaign at the end of April to encourage us to "Act now, age better!". To help make it easy to find out what free or affordable activities might be right for you, we've organised a drop-in Keep Active Day information event at Islington Central Library on Wednesday 7th May, 11am - 1pm. This will be a 'one-stop-shop' when you can talk to local activities providers about free and affordable ways to stay active in Islington.
Arsenal in the Community, Healthy Generations, Healthy Minds, Healthy Bods, Green Guardians, Age UK Islington, Islington Libraries service, Better Leisure and Islington Council will be there to talk to about what's available in community centres, leisure centres, and outdoors.
Come along to find out about free and affordable, walks, gym sessions, community gardening sessions, exercise classes and other groups!
See the Keep Active Event poster.
❤️ Offer for Unpaid Carers: 1st April - 14th May 2025
Throughout ‘Active April’ - 1st April -14th May, members of Carers UK or anyone who is in receipt of Carer’s Allowance will be able to take out membership at their local Better leisure centre at the discounted rate of £30 per month. This provides access to the gym, swimming, fitness classes and the health suite. See the Better website for more information.
❤️ Further support
If you're not feeling confident in finding or getting along to an exercise group or to join a gym do get in touch with Age UK Islington.
We can help with information about local activities that fit your interests and with finding accessible ways to get there.
Contact Age UK Islington on gethelp@ageukislington.org.uk or call them on 020 7281 6018 (Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm).